11-13-2016, 11:05 AM
Mark Reason: Why Joseph Parker v Andy Ruiz is not a real championship fight
Heavyweight champion of the world.
The phrase glitters with history. It is arguably the most prestigious and most famous title in the whole of sport. For name recognition it is right up there with the president of the United States of America. Teddy Roosevelt and Jack Johnson; FDR and Joe Louis; Eisenhower and Rocky Marciano; Sonny Liston and JFK. These are powerful combinations. America, land of the free, home of the brave, owned the ring.
And now Duco Events brings you, "Donald Trump and Joseph Parker". You see the problem. The world as we knew it is taking a mandatory count. It's down on it's knees. We're being sold a pup. Don't get me wrong, Joseph Parker may very well one day turn out to be top dog, although I have my doubts. But right now he is a whelp.
I looked online last week and the cheapest ticket I could find for Parker's fight against Andy Ruiz was $155. That was for a seat where you can just about smell the atmosphere and see a distant prospect. And for what? These two men are not fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world. They are fighting for the Hyperbowl.
At no stage of their infant careers have Parker or Ruiz fought Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev or Luis Ortiz. So how can they possibly claim to be a world champion and be taken seriously? It's a rort.
Sadly it's a rort that the Samoan government have decided to "invest" $137,000 in. Hopefully they get some bang for their buck. Hopefully the promotional package they are being offered will bring tourists streaming over to the islands. But I doubt impoverished Samoans see it that way. They see a fat, steaming junket.
Fury, who for all is his problems is the real current world champion, said recently, "Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in...I hate boxing now. I wouldn't even cross the road to watch a title fight."
Now Fury is a troubled man but, as Sir Bob Jones pointed out to me in the week, he is not so very far away from Muhammed Ali. "Fury has a similar style of hit and move. Klitschko was bewildered by him. And if the opponent rushes in, they grab him.
"I'm sad about Fury. He was terribly upset at not being acclaimed and he had a right to be upset. He was detested for being a traveller. He made some extreme remarks, but Ali made the same sort of remarks. There was a lot of bullshit written about Ali. I knew Ali and he wasn't a nice man."
Parker is a nice man according to Jones and just about everyone else who has met him. He is a sportsman who can do this country proud. But let's not fool ourselves that Parker's day with destiny is on December 10. That is just one more eliminator on the way to a real championship fight.
The bloke Parker is fighting wouldn't last a round with some of the greats of the sport. Andres Ponce Ruiz is a fat fast food junkie who a year ago even his trainers described as a slob who mentally wasn't where ne needed to be. Ruiz has pulled out of recent fights for no apparent reason. Last time out he beat a 40-year-old American no name called Franklin Lawrence.
And yet Kevin Barry, the trainer of Parker, calls next month's fight, "A monumental occasion not just for boxing but for sport in New Zealand. It's an impossible dream."
I guess, it is really - "I have a dream. I have a dream that one day I will fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. I have a dream that I will fight a fat no name Mexican let over the wall by the mad president of the United States. I have a dream that my country will take this seriously. I have a dream that they will call me heavyweight champion of the world."
Impossible? Not in the world of boxing.
Once upon a time we knew where we stood. Nat Fleischer founded Ring Magazine and it became the bible of boxing. The Ring's number one ranking was often more coveted than the title itself. Even when boxing went through its own Big Short, the Ring could be relied on to provide some sense of order.
And how it needed some order in the chaos. Boxing had been taken over by what Grandmaster Flash memorably described as "smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers, pickpockets peddlers, even panhandlers." No one could take the multiple governing bodies seriously. It was Alphabet Absurdity.
Consider this. At the turn of the century an American super middleweight Darrin Morris got into the top 10 of the WBO rankings. He slipped due to inactivity, but then rose back through the rankings to an all-time high of fifth in early 2001. The only trouble was that Darrin 'Mongoose' Morris had died of Aids three months earlier. Dead man boxing.
The sport was close to the edge. But the Ring still attempted some honest rankings. Then in 2007 the Ring was purchased by Golden Boy Promotions and the tampering began.
Independently three of the Ring's senior journalists resigned. After much soul searching they formed "an objective rankings panel ... that is internationally represented, knowledgeable, and independent."
It is far from ideal, because as Bob Jones points out, the contenders don't fight each other for a shot at the title any more. So the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board rankings are guesswork. But they are an educated international guess in which Parker currently is just outside the top 10 and Ruiz is off the charts.
And yet these two men are fighting for a world title. John Key and the National government would have nothing to do with it. Phil Goff and the Auckland Council would have nothing to do with it.
Ireland have far more claim to be rugby world champions by beating the All Blacks the other week than either of these men have to the heavyweight championship of the world.
And did you notice that when an old-fashioned box-off was suggested, everyone ran a mile. This fight is the Big Short and the Big Rort rolled into one. Save your money for the real thing if we ever get to see it.
- Sunday Star Times
Heavyweight champion of the world.
The phrase glitters with history. It is arguably the most prestigious and most famous title in the whole of sport. For name recognition it is right up there with the president of the United States of America. Teddy Roosevelt and Jack Johnson; FDR and Joe Louis; Eisenhower and Rocky Marciano; Sonny Liston and JFK. These are powerful combinations. America, land of the free, home of the brave, owned the ring.
And now Duco Events brings you, "Donald Trump and Joseph Parker". You see the problem. The world as we knew it is taking a mandatory count. It's down on it's knees. We're being sold a pup. Don't get me wrong, Joseph Parker may very well one day turn out to be top dog, although I have my doubts. But right now he is a whelp.
I looked online last week and the cheapest ticket I could find for Parker's fight against Andy Ruiz was $155. That was for a seat where you can just about smell the atmosphere and see a distant prospect. And for what? These two men are not fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world. They are fighting for the Hyperbowl.
At no stage of their infant careers have Parker or Ruiz fought Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev or Luis Ortiz. So how can they possibly claim to be a world champion and be taken seriously? It's a rort.
Sadly it's a rort that the Samoan government have decided to "invest" $137,000 in. Hopefully they get some bang for their buck. Hopefully the promotional package they are being offered will bring tourists streaming over to the islands. But I doubt impoverished Samoans see it that way. They see a fat, steaming junket.
Fury, who for all is his problems is the real current world champion, said recently, "Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in...I hate boxing now. I wouldn't even cross the road to watch a title fight."
Now Fury is a troubled man but, as Sir Bob Jones pointed out to me in the week, he is not so very far away from Muhammed Ali. "Fury has a similar style of hit and move. Klitschko was bewildered by him. And if the opponent rushes in, they grab him.
"I'm sad about Fury. He was terribly upset at not being acclaimed and he had a right to be upset. He was detested for being a traveller. He made some extreme remarks, but Ali made the same sort of remarks. There was a lot of bullshit written about Ali. I knew Ali and he wasn't a nice man."
Parker is a nice man according to Jones and just about everyone else who has met him. He is a sportsman who can do this country proud. But let's not fool ourselves that Parker's day with destiny is on December 10. That is just one more eliminator on the way to a real championship fight.
The bloke Parker is fighting wouldn't last a round with some of the greats of the sport. Andres Ponce Ruiz is a fat fast food junkie who a year ago even his trainers described as a slob who mentally wasn't where ne needed to be. Ruiz has pulled out of recent fights for no apparent reason. Last time out he beat a 40-year-old American no name called Franklin Lawrence.
And yet Kevin Barry, the trainer of Parker, calls next month's fight, "A monumental occasion not just for boxing but for sport in New Zealand. It's an impossible dream."
I guess, it is really - "I have a dream. I have a dream that one day I will fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. I have a dream that I will fight a fat no name Mexican let over the wall by the mad president of the United States. I have a dream that my country will take this seriously. I have a dream that they will call me heavyweight champion of the world."
Impossible? Not in the world of boxing.
Once upon a time we knew where we stood. Nat Fleischer founded Ring Magazine and it became the bible of boxing. The Ring's number one ranking was often more coveted than the title itself. Even when boxing went through its own Big Short, the Ring could be relied on to provide some sense of order.
And how it needed some order in the chaos. Boxing had been taken over by what Grandmaster Flash memorably described as "smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers, pickpockets peddlers, even panhandlers." No one could take the multiple governing bodies seriously. It was Alphabet Absurdity.
Consider this. At the turn of the century an American super middleweight Darrin Morris got into the top 10 of the WBO rankings. He slipped due to inactivity, but then rose back through the rankings to an all-time high of fifth in early 2001. The only trouble was that Darrin 'Mongoose' Morris had died of Aids three months earlier. Dead man boxing.
The sport was close to the edge. But the Ring still attempted some honest rankings. Then in 2007 the Ring was purchased by Golden Boy Promotions and the tampering began.
Independently three of the Ring's senior journalists resigned. After much soul searching they formed "an objective rankings panel ... that is internationally represented, knowledgeable, and independent."
It is far from ideal, because as Bob Jones points out, the contenders don't fight each other for a shot at the title any more. So the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board rankings are guesswork. But they are an educated international guess in which Parker currently is just outside the top 10 and Ruiz is off the charts.
And yet these two men are fighting for a world title. John Key and the National government would have nothing to do with it. Phil Goff and the Auckland Council would have nothing to do with it.
Ireland have far more claim to be rugby world champions by beating the All Blacks the other week than either of these men have to the heavyweight championship of the world.
And did you notice that when an old-fashioned box-off was suggested, everyone ran a mile. This fight is the Big Short and the Big Rort rolled into one. Save your money for the real thing if we ever get to see it.
- Sunday Star Times